Burnout

,This post was written by Clayton King. If you have been around Summit, than likelihood is you have heard Clayton speak, he was here about a month or so ago. Clayton is one of the most gifted speakers I have ever heard. When he preaches, people get saved by the dozens or even more. It's AWESOME!!

He also runs a great ministry for middle, high and college students. They do a summer camp that Summit takes our students to each year, fantastic!! His ministry also supports the ministry that I work with in India. It was on a trip with his ministry that I first went to India.

If you can't tell, I'm a big fan of this guy haha.

I loved the post that he wrote because it is so true.

He was writing specifically about pastors and other people in ministry, but I think that it applies to everyone. After all, we're all supposed to be in ministry. Our lives are meant to be a ministry.

I think that college students are particularly bad about the cycle that he was describing.

We get going and get super involved.

We get plugged into to a campus ministry and a church. We serve at both.

Before we know if, we are in 2 different small groups and probably leading one too.

We have internships and are on leadership.

Basically, our schedules are completely booked.

And we can sustain this for a little while.

But then we get tired. School work piles up. The kids in the class that we teach at church start misbehaving all the time.

We stop enjoying our small groups.

We stop spending the right amount of time with God, we just don't have time to get everything else done.

And before we  know it, we're burned out and ready to give up.

Can you relate to this?


So how do we not get caught in this cycle? How do we not let ourselves get caught up in doing too much?

If you're like me than its hard. I'm programmed that if I see something missing, I want to be part of making it happen.

I can't say no.

There are many problems that cause this cycle that we each have to sort out and deal with individually. When I started getting burnt out, the first thing that I had to do was put my priority back on having good time with God every day. And not just like 5 minutes before I run out the door or in between classes. I mean good, quality time.

The second thing that I did was ask Veronica to disciple me.

Having someone pouring into me has helped greatly to keep the burn out away. Taking the time to sit down with her and talk about things and learn from her has enabled me to in turn continue pouring into other people and other ministries that I am involved in.

We can't do this life alone. We can't do ministry alone. We need people pouring into us and replenishing us so that we can go out and serve more.

That's the way God wanted it to be.

I liked the way that Clayton ended his post: "Pace yourself. This is not a sprint. It is a marathon. The goal is to finish, not to finish fast."

If you feel overwhelmed, cut something out.

I know that hurts, its not fun to do, but sometimes we need to.

Our bodies, our minds, and our spiritual lives can't take going going going at all times with no break.

Then ask someone to help you.

Ask someone that you know and love. Someone you have a relationship with already to start discipling you. Or ask me and I will find you someone!!

We NEED discipleship!

Pictures are coming and I have a fun fundraiser for my trip this summer that you are all going to LOVE!!

But first I wanted to share something that has been on my heart recently.

Discipleship

Titus 2 says: "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." (Emphasis added)

This verse is very clear. 

We ARE NOT supposed to live this life alone. 

We NEED older women in our lives teaching us.

We need someone who has been through what we are going through now, who have seen what is on the other side of graduation, who can teach us and guide us through our struggles and our lives. 

We NEED that. We are made for that. We are commanded to live this way.

This past fall, my spiritual life hit a rock. I was exhausted. I love serving and being there for other people, but I had no one directly pouring into me, serving me, leading me. I had my small group and I was learning from them, but even then, it wasn't quite enough. I also had a women discipling me for the work that we do with international students. I love my time with her, but our time is focused on training me for that ministry, not always just on my personal walk. 

I needed a woman who was older. Who was out and completely away from the college world. Who could tell me that the thoughts and worries that I have about my future are totally normal, that she had them too, but that God truly is in control and has a beautiful plan for my life. 

So I asked someone to be that person for me. I asked a woman who I have babysat for for many years, if she had that time to pour into my life. I am so thankful that she said yes. 

We have just been meeting for a few short months, but already I have learned so much from her.

Even just watching how she interacts with her family. How she loves and disciplines her children. How she interacts with her husband. Just watching a Godly marriage has taught me so much. (not that my parents don't have a Godly marriage- they do, but watching someone else's marriage)

We talk about struggles that we both have, struggles that I'm going through that she has already been through, struggles that she has that I KNOW I will one day go through as well.

We NEED relationships like this. 

I'm not saying that the campus ministry way of having older students disciple younger students is wrong. Its not. You can still learn so much from people who are just a few years older than you, and I have. I am so thankful for the leaders that I have had in small groups over the past two years. I have learned so much from them.

BUT, there is something different about being discipled by a senior and being discipled by a wife and a mother. Someone who has done college, but has also done work, marriage, and children. She has so much more life experience and knowledge to be shared. 

AND, while I hope that I will stay in touch with the people from college that have made an impact on me and that I will stay in touch with the woman from international friends who is also discipling me, the relationship with these people will change when I am no longer in college, when I'm no longer working with international friends. 

I KNOW that I will still be in touch with Veronica LONG after I graduate. I love her kids WAY too much to just not be in their lives anymore. I know that even when I'm on the other side of the world, I will need to talk to her and see pictures of her family. And when I come back to the State's, her's will be one of the first homes that I go to. 

I'm writing this today because I know that there are girls out there across the college campuses in the area that desperately want this kind of relationship. That desperately want to just be inside someone's home. That want to simply SEE a child! 

I'm from Summit, its my home church. So when I hit a rough patch in my faith, I knew who I could turn to. I asked Veronica, but I know countless women who would have been willing to be that person for me. I have a huge support system at Summit to fall onto when I need to. 

A lot of people don't. A lot of students only know the college students that they ride to church with every week. A lot of girls have never met a woman at Summit. 

I want to start to fix that. 

I have already sent 2 of my friends who want to be mentored and discipled to a woman that I know and love to be discipled. I want to do more. 

If you are college student who desperately feels this void in your life and wants to be discipled by a woman in the church, PLEASE let me know!! I will find you someone!! I want to help you fill this need.

Ladies, if you would be willing to disciple one of this wonderful young ladies, PLEASE let me know!! We NEED you in our lives!!! And remember, we are college girls. When I go to Veronica's house, yes, we talk about our walk and our struggles, we also play with her kids, I watch her kids while she runs to the grocery store. I help her fold her laundry, we look at catalogs and I tell her if shoes are cute or not (not that she should really trust my fashion advice). 

We NEED relationships in our lives. God did not create us to do this life alone. We need people who have walked the road that we are now on and can help us along our way. 

We NEED that. 

So please, comment, e-mail, text, call- WHATEVER just please let me know if you either want to be discipled or would be willing to disciple someone. 

My e-mail is lsdroege@gmail.com

PLEASE get in touch with me!!

Also, feel free to pass along my information to any of your friends who might be interested in either being discipled or discipling.


Much love!!